


It's All in the Cards

by MercuryWells



Series: Believe in the Heart of the Cards [1]
Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: And I am a competitive mofo, Card Games, First Kiss, Gambling, M/M, Poker, Yes I based this around my own love for card games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22602895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryWells/pseuds/MercuryWells
Summary: Friday night poker had become a steadfast tradition on the Crimson Light, and the crew tends to get creative with their bets.
Relationships: Avocato/Gary Goodspeed
Series: Believe in the Heart of the Cards [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641133
Comments: 20
Kudos: 103





	It's All in the Cards

Friday night poker had become a steadfast tradition on the Crimson Light.

It had begun with Gary roping Avocato into a game of  _ Gin Rummy _ after weeks of wearing him down. They would play a few games here and there during whatever downtime the crew could manage between crises. To his credit, Avocato was a quick learner. Even if Gary still won three out of every four games, Avocato was a good sport and a more than competent player. Which was a good thing, because while Gary normally considered himself a fairly laid back person, when it came to cards he could be excessively competitive. Blame that classic midwest upbringing.

Overtaken by curiosity, Little Cato would occasionally drop by the mess during a game and observe, doing his best not to be a backseat player. Gary could tell he had a terrible poker face because he would often squirm and wriggle in his seat when he was obviously trying not to tell one of the players what to do. Eventually, Little Cato worked up the courage to ask to join. Soon new games like  _ Crazy Eights _ and  _ Up and Down the River _ were added to the mix. Little Cato’s favorite was the energetic and reflex-centric  _ Egyptian Ratscrew _ . That particular game was made all the more interesting when your opponents had claws.

When Nightfall was added to the group to make four, it was time for Gary to introduce them all to the joy of team games. He started easy with  _ Kemps _ , a game where players tried to build a hand of four cards of the same rank and then subtly (or not so subtly, it took Gary weeks to forgive Avocato for that under-the-table kick to the shin) alert their partner without the other team guessing that they had made it. Next came a timeless classic:  _ Hearts _ . Finally, when he felt the others were ready to graduate to more complex trick taking games he introduced them to  _ Euchre _ and  _ Sheepshead _ . Gary even bought a special deck to play  _ Pinochle _ .

Fox, Ash, and HUE were the next to join card game nights (KVN was very explicitly not invited.) Sometimes they split off into separate games. Sometimes they played a single game that accommodated a larger number of players. Favorites of the latter type included  _ Spoons _ , _B.S._ , and  _ President _ . By this point Gary made a habit of buying a souvenir pack of cards whenever he visited a new planet. He had built up an impressive collection of over forty decks that was on permanent loan to the crew.

Clarence was the last to join card game nights. Of course his favorite game would be poker. Unfortunately, he was the only individual aboard the Crimson Light who had any real amount of money to bet with, so the crew started betting favors in addition to playing for pennies. This quickly led to the majority of ship maintenance being the result of a player going bust. Clarence consistently made it to the final two (Gary wasn’t sure the little river rat didn’t have AVA feeding him odds) so it was an unusual match-up when one friday night it came down to Gary and Avocato.

This brought Gary back to the good old days when it was just him and Avocato. There was always an electric energy in the room when they played head to head. After the rest of the crew left the mess to go back to their respective rooms (Ash muttering something about “I can’t watch these two any more”), Gary had jokingly suggested that the two of them settle the remaining hands with a game of strip poker. Of course, Avocato rolled his eyes and turned him down. But Gary would not be deterred. He considered himself an honest and open person, but he could be devious when the situation called for it.

He hesitated before dealing out the next hand. “Ok. Why don’t we make this interesting? We each write down a favor like normal, but the twist is we place them face down so we don’t know what the other person is betting?”

“Hehehe. I can get behind that, seeing as you’re going down,” Avocato goaded.

“Oh it is so on! You have no idea how on it is! But you will when I kick your ass!” Gary retorted. 

“The only thing you’ll be kicking when I’m through with you is the bucket!”

Trading trash talk with Avocato was always one of the highlights of playing cards with him. It never got too mean, just enough to egg the other on. Gary was pleased that Avocato was always able to keep up with him, keeping the barbs flying at him with an effortlessness that belied a quick wit.

As his pot was eventually whittled down by bum luck Gary was forced to go all in,  _ classic Gary Style! _ He was feeling smug with his pair of kings in hand and an additional king on the board. Also on the board were three cards off rank and off suit, and all lower than the king. He had this in the bag!

Drawing the last card off the deck, he revealed a three of diamonds. “Haha! Hail to the kings, baby!” he shouted victoriously as he threw his hand down on the table.

“Damn, that’s a mighty fine hand you got there,” Avocato said in tone that if Gary didn’t know better, he might mistake for flirting.

Gary pumped his fist. “Now Gary’s back in the game!” He made to gather the cards.

“Not so fast,” Avocato interrupted, laying down his own hand. It was a five and a six, off suit. At first Gary didn’t catch on, but then he noticed the board just as Avocato crowed, “That’s a straight, babe! Three through seven.”

“Impossible! Improbable! Unlikely!” Gary clutched dramatically at his chest. “Hoisted by my own petard!”

Avocato smirked at him as he waited for Gary to finish acting out a melodramatic and drawn out death scene. When Gary got back up from where he was lying on the floor Avocato motioned to the the strip of paper he had placed on the table earlier. “Time to pay up.”

“Ooh! What’s it going to be? Cleaning the lavatory? Giving Little Cato ‘the talk’? What torment has your fiendish mind come up with?”

Avocato flipped the paper to reveal the words ‘ _ One (1) kiss _ ’. He looked smugly at Gary. “Bet you weren’t expecting that.”

His smug look turned to confusion, then to hurt when Gary burst out laughing, tears beginning to stream down his face.

“No! No! It’s not like that!” Gary assured Avocato. “Look!” He turned over his own strip of paper. It read ‘ _ Gimme a smooch, big boy’ _ .

Avocato scrunched up his face at the very - _ Gary-  _ turn of phrase. But before he could comment on it he had a lapful and faceful of Gary. Any thoughts of how Gary was unable to express himself like how he assumed a normal human would were discarded.

It was fifteen minutes later when Little Cato walked into the mess to get a late night snack. “Ew, gross!” he said, covering his eyes with his arm. “Like,  _ finally! _ It’s about time! But also, gross! I did not need to see my dads making out!” He retreated to his room, followed by the sound of chuckling.

“Guess that saves us having to talk to Little Cato about, well,  _ this _ ,” Gary said sheepishly as he waved a hand between himself and Avocato, who grabbed his hand and pulled him back in with a lecherous grin.


End file.
